Transpositions

Transposition may be defined as a change in the order of linguistic elements: words, phrases, clauses and sentences. Their order in the TL text may not correspond to that in the SL text.

This change of order is necessary to preserve fully the content of the utterance while observing the norms of the TL.

In considering the universal categories of definiteness and indefiniteness mention has been made of the two main parts of the sentence from the point of view of communication, viz. the known (theme) and new (rheme) elements of the utterance and their respective place in English and in Russian sentences. It should also be noted that the traditional word order in English is Subject – Predicate – Object – Adverbial modifiers while the common tendency in Russian is to place adverbial modifiers at the beginning of the sentence to be followed by the predicate and the subject at the end, e.g.

Strikes broke out in many British industries.

В ряде отраслей промышленности Великобритании вспыхнули забастовки.

Transposition can also be effected within a complex sentence. The arrangement of clauses in English is often governed by syntactical hierarchy, whereas in Russian precedence is taken by logical considerations, e.g.

He started back and fell against the railings, trembling as he looked up.

(W.M.Thackeray).

Взглянув наверх, он вздрогнул, отпрянул и, весь дрожа, прислонился к ограде.

Replacements

The substitution of parts of speech is a common and most important type of replacements. Every word functions in the language as a member of a certain grammatical clause, that is, as a distinct part of speech: noun, verb, adjective or adverb. But the S and T languages do not necessarily have correlated words belonging to the same grammatical class. In such cases replacements or replacements + additions are necessary, e.g.

an early bedder – человек, который рано ложится спать;

to cutvote somebody – получить больше голосов на выборах, чем …

The Times wrote editorially…- В передовой статье газета Таймс писала…

The adverb is translated by a noun modified by an adjective.

A frequent use of nominal and phrase predicates with the key notion expressed by a noun or an adjective often results in the replacement of a noun by a verb.

A professor of Essex University was critical of the Government social security policy.

Профессор Эссекского университета критиковал правительственную политику социального обеспечения.

Semantically link verbs are highly diversified. Sometimes it is hard to draw a clear demarcation line between a nominal predicate and a case of secondary predication.

The door at the end of the corridor sighed open and sighed shut again.

(G.H.Cox).

Дверь в конце коридора еле слышно открылась и снова также еле слышно закрылась.

He took the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. (Conan Doyle).

Он схватил шнурок от звонка и резко его дернул.

A phrase predicate is replaced by a verbal predicate.

Adjectives derived from geographical names are usually replaced by nouns as such Russian adjectives evidently tend to express some permanent characteristic trait but not a temporary one, e.g.

Chilean copper – чилийская медная руда but Chilean atrocities – зверства в Чили.

Degrees of comparison also sometimes cause replacements. Such adjectives in the comparative degree as more, less, higher, lower, shorter, etc. are often translated by other parts of speech.

More letter bombs have been rendered harmless.

Было обезврежено еще несколько писем с бомбами.

His audience last night may also have been less than enthusiastic about the Prime Minister’s attitude towards Government spending.

Слушали, возможно, безо всякого восторга отнеслись к вчерашнему выступлению премьер-министра, в котором он высказал свое отношение к правительственным расходам.

Another linguistic phenomenon which frequently causes replacements in translation is the use of nouns denoting inanimate things, abstract notions, natural phenomena and parts of the body as subjects – agents of the action.

Election year opens on in America which is more divided and bitter than at any time in recent history.

В этом году будут происходить выборы в Америке, которая еще никогда не была такой разъединенной и озлобленной.

As a matter of fact the subject in such constructions is purely formal. Actually it expresses adverbial relations of time, place, cause, etc.

Parts of the sentence often change their syntactical function in translation thus causing a complete or partial reconstruction of the sentence by means of replacements.

The White House correspondents have largely been beaten into submission by the President.

Президент грубым нажимом заставил подчиниться большинство корреспондентов при Белом Доме.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16